Splits with the members!

Bonjour ma famille!

This week was really interesting but I think I will cover most of it with the questions!

Something really exciting that happened this week was that we went on splits with some members this week.  I did NOT feel ready for that, but it went really well I think!  So me and Frère Official took the bikes and went to two rendez-vous while Elder Maoni and Amos went to two.  So basically I had to find my way around using only French and when I taught the lessons I didn't have Elder Maoni to do most of the talking, in fact I had to do most of the talking.  Frère Official was there to help me when I visited Eveline if I couldn't understand the Creole or she couldn't understand my French.  I can usually understand Creole, at least what they are talking about, but he really helped a lot.  Then after that all the other people I had plans to see or had set as back up plans weren't home, so Frère Official told me about of one of his friends that apparently had seen the missionaries once.  So I had to introduce to her most of what I was there to do, we call it "how to begin teaching" and I think I did OK.  I was able to get a next appointment so that's always good haha!

Right now Elder Fraley and I are chillin' together while the other two Elders are driving to pick up the President and his wife from the Suriname border.  He's doing a routine run around the islands and countries, which I really don't think happens too often.  I think he will talk with the Branch Pres., check up on the mission, he's giving a fireside at the church tomorrow, and other than that I really don't know.  But Elder Fraley and I are just going on exploring adventures and what not together, its great haha!  The two greenies left all alone to run around the country!

 I got the package! Thanks so much its awesome!  I didn't have to pay for it but they dropped a message on our mailbox and we had to drive a ways to DHL to pick it up, but there was another box of mission supplies we had to pick up there anyway so it worked great!  I picked it up last Monday!

The only real new investigator this week was Guerlin who was Frère Official's friend he told me about, but I felt good that I contacted her on my own.  I also street contacted this lady named Saint-Abin (something like that, not sure how to spell it) but we haven't gotten a chance to really talk to her yet.

We will watch conference this weekend but I'm not sure how its going to happen.  I'm really excited though!  I've heard conference is a lot cooler as a missionary!  And no I didn't hear that the priesthood session is going to be on TV, interesting.

I actually got fed a TON this week!  It was the best!  We got fed TWICE yesterday!  We broke our fast at Presidente D'Arbreu's house and also that night at Soeur Anthony's.  She's from Georgetown (Guyana) and has Indian ancestry, so she fed us some Indian food!  It was delicious! We had Roti with curried fish, man it was good... haha  She said she might teach us how to make it one day!  Also on Saturday I found out it was Elder Maoni's birthday and the Barnet's gave him a birthday party with cake and everything!  It was a pretty good week.

When was the last baptism in French Guiana?

I actually have never asked and now I really want to know... I'm going to ask when the others get back, remind me next week!

I know there used to be a branch in Kourou that was closed.  Are there members that live far away, and are they able to come to Cayenne for church?

Sadly there are members that just can't come to church.  There isn't much we can do and its a big worry here, they are outside our mission bounds and there isn't a church that they can go to, so they are just on there own for now and its really sad.

I have read my patriarchal blessing a lot and the part that really struck out to me at this time is when it talks about prayer and how there will come a time where the Lord is the only one I can turn to.  I feel like that has come true already and I really have been praying a lot and I've received so much help from my Savior I can't even express all of it.  I read Mosiah 24 the other day for our reading schedule and it talked about the burdens of the people being lightened by the Savior because of their constant prayers.  Their burden was never removed but it was made light afin qu'ils could lift it.

I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again!  I loved the picture of Bri in the convertible haha!  I'm sure she will remember that forever and she'll still be talking about it when I get back haha!  Which is weird thinking that I've already been out for about 4 months! Crazyness! in a month or so I'll be about 1/4 done!  What the?!  haha its going fast!  My first transfer ends next week and we find out on Friday if anyone is flying out or stickin' around!

Sadly...I think he's calculated wrong.  He's almost been out for 3 months!  Seems like 4 months to me though!!

I love you all!  Make sure pepper doesn't hit too many walls, maybe she needs one of those walking sticks for the blind!

Avec amour,
Elder Call

Eating a Star Apple

Elder Maoni's birthday party at the Barnet's

A dead fish Elder Fraley and I found on the beach during our exploration today

A monkey on a wire

Our moms are friends!!

Bonjour ma famille!

Elder Fraley and I had a good laugh when we heard that our moms are best friends now!  We enjoyed telling everyone haha, we're also really bummed about missing all the Aggie games.  Too bad about the USC game, I hope it wasn't too bad.  It sounds like things are VERY different back home which is super weird, but I guess that's what happens when every guy leaves on a mission.

I almost started to tear up when you said you started reading the Book of Mormon everyday since I left!  Its so cool that your doing that!  As a mission we have a schedule to finish the whole book of Mormon every 2 transfers, I think?  Well we are supposed to finish it by around my birthday, the exact day I haven't memorized, sorry.  I actually taught a lesson about reading the scriptures LAST NIGHT.  Elder Maoni wasn't in a good mood so we didn't have anything planned when we went to go see the Barnet's.  After a couple awkward minutes I decided just to go for it and begin teaching.  I told all the kids to grab their scriptures and asked if they had been reading.  I then asked if they had been "studying" their scriptures.  I then, by myself, gave a whole lesson on how we can use the Scripture Guides to answer questions we have and that we can learn things for ourselves through reading and studying.  Elder Maoni didn't say a word and I felt great about the lesson! Also yesterday, I found out I had to teach Sunday School!  I had maybe 30 minutes to prepare and Elder Maoni disappeared right as it was about to start.  So I had to teach about free agency to 3 members and 4 or 5 investigators that were there, by myself!  Elder Santos helped me along with my French when I needed it, but mostly I had to get the people to talk and stay on topic. People here love to talk, the hard part is to get them to talk about what you want to talk about.  A lot of the time we go to a lesson and the person decides they want to teach us stuff, most of it false doctrine, or they go off on the most random stuff.  The worst is when its in Creole and I have no clue what they are saying, I get the main idea, but the details slip me.

Yeah, my hair is short, sadly that's the longest guard we have so... I'll have to figure something out I guess haha!

On to questions!

How was your week?  Did anything fun or exciting happen?

We had an exchange with the zone!  All 4 of us!  I went with Elder Santos and let me tell ya, we did a lot of work.  Haha it was great!  I was helpful in the lessons and explained both the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Christ, I felt really good!

The package was sent last Tuesday.  Any word?

I got a message that it got here, I just need to go pick it up!

Do you do much service?  Maybe that's something you can do when you don't have anything else to do.

We haven't had to many opportunities, we changed a tire for one family haha but I don't think we have done much else, I'll see if we can get something going though!

What did you do last week for p-day?  Any fun plans for today?

Haha it was a muddy ride through the rain forest.  Right at the start it down poured big time!  It lasted maybe 5 minutes but the trail was a river!  I wish that I took a pictures of the trail but I didn't want to get my camera ruined, which probably would have happened, we were soaked!

So when is zone conference?  Is it the same time as transfers?

It turns out that we don't have a zone conference.  The President is just coming to French Guiana for, I'm not sure what exactly, maybe to talk with the Branch President and the rest of the branch. I really wanted to go to Suriname though... The transfer ends Oct. 6 I think.

How was church yesterday?  Did you have a lot of people there?  Do they have a piano and does someone play?  Maybe you should play!

There were quite a lot of people at church yesterday!  Yes there's a piano, yes someone can play, and no I don't plan on learning anytime soon ;)

How is the French?  Do you speak it with your comp?  Is it getting easier?

I try to speak as much French as I can, Elder Maoni speaks really fast and doesn't like to repeat himself so I miss a lot of whats going on haha.  But I can tell I'm getting a lot better at understanding

Sorry no time for more!  I think I got all the best ones already!

Love you all so much thanks for the emails and prayers!!!  I'll look for the letter that was sent but I still haven't gotten my letter to become legal in the country yet, and I think Elder Fraley got his about 2 weeks ago...

Talk to ya next week!
Avec Amour,
Elder Call

Pictures of our bike ride last week!

A lot of questions!

Bonjour ma Famille!!

Jordan has been line dancing?!  COUNTRY line dancing?!  Where's my brother and what have you done with him!  hahaha!  That's awesome!!  haha I didn't think people would change so much so soon haha!  I guess I was the only one keeping the family from going country!

The questions cover most everything so I'll just go to them!!

How has the week been?  Have you been busy?  Have you done anything interesting or fun?

Yeah we've had a lot of stuff but I don't feel like I'm really all that busy, sadly Elder Maoni is really slow in the morning.  But yesterday at church Elder Maoni was in another class because he had to teach a lesson, Elder Santos was teaching Sunday School but had to step out because a little kid was being really loud and disruptive and wouldn't stop unless he went out with him.  SO Elder Fraley and I were left alone in the room and had to teach the rest of the lesson, by ourselves, AND Elders Santos and Fraley had an investigator there.  It was so cool!!!  We took over and were talking, asking questions and everyone was all into it!  It was great!  haha  I still struggle with talking in our lessons with investigators but I still brave a quick testimony if that's all I can do.

I loved the pics last week!  I couldn't translate the whole sign though.  What did the bottom part say?

Haha It says basically "watch out, Evil Dog" haha I thought you would like that.

Are you eating healthy?  Are you eating any veggies and fruit?

I've impressed myself with how well I've been trying to eat!  Elder Maoni doesn't use veggies, ever, I bought a couple bags of frozen veggies that I will throw into stuff or eat along side every meal. The first day they gave us a huge lecture in orientation and I think it scared me straight haha!

Do you always cook for yourself or do you cook with Elder Maoni?

We switch off cooking every other day.  Elder Maoni doesn't branch out too much with his meals, he's got about three.  But I've been making some master pieces actually, Stir Fry, omelettes, pasta, and then I eat a baguette with nutella if I am ever hungry haha, I eat a lot of baguettes with nutella.

Does Elder Maoni speak English?  

Yeah he learned English when he spent some time in Barbados, 3 months I think, he's very fluent, but he's a native French speaker and his accent his different from everybody else, everyone has a different accent and that makes it hard. I think I'm getting better but I can't tell, some days its good, others not so much.

Did you get to teach Franchesca again this week?  Any other new investigators?

We talked to her but for only 10 minutes, she said she knew that the Book of Mormon talks of truth, which was super cool, its progress!  No other new investigators as of now.

Do you feel safe there?  How far is your apartment from the other Elders'?

I have never felt worried for my safety, we live in a complex maybe 5 to 10 minutes from the others, depending on traffic.

Do you have a church building or a rented place to meet?  How many people attend church each week?

We have a really nice church building actually!  We get a lot of the youth together and play volleyball there sometimes!  Our main focus is to keep our members because there aren't too many actives.  We have maybe 20 people that come to church each week.

How long has Elder Maoni been in FG?  How much longer does he have left on his mission?

It's his 3rd month in French Guiana and I think he has 6 months or so left.

Do you have any idea how long you'll be in French Guiana?  Do they leave missionaries is areas for a long time?

I honestly have no clue how long I will be here, it sounds like they try to get people to stay in areas for some time to get to know people and the area.  But its unpredictable for me the least I've heard is 3 months the longest I've heard is 1 year in an area so...

Do they have any patisseries or bistros there?  Have you had any yummy French pastries?

Apparently the way it goes is that we don't eat out until the end of the transfer so that we make sure we have enough money to last, I have seen some around though!

Did your converters work?

They work but they are huge haha everyone else has nice little one, I did have to buy another cord for my Ipod because I don't know what happened to mine, it was super expensive though, so I may wait some time to buy other things haha.

What do most of the people do there for work?

Well from what I can tell most people work in the shops and stores.  We aren't by the farmers and the more well off space station workers that much.

Do you have a washing machine?

Its in our apartment.

How are the members?  Has anyone fed you yet?

They are really pretty poor.  We did get fed by President D'Arbreu the other day!  It was good but all it was was meat rice and salsa, I've heard they eat a lot of meat here.  It was super good though!

When do you have zone conference?

We are going to Suriname on the 30th, I think, the last Monday of this month.

I love you so much and miss you!  Not enough to come home though, sorry;)
I love hearing from you!

Avec amour,
Elder Call


Last week for pday we went to the beach.  It's called Montjoly.  It was pretty dirty, so I wasn't tempted to jump in.

This is a picture of some trash that someone lit on fire outside their house.  I see that a lot hahaha. People just have stuff on fire by the road. Sometimes there's just a tree that someone cut down, lit on fire, and left, just on the side of the road and nobody cares.

The Best Two Years?

'ello bonjour!

Things are going alright down here! I'm finally getting settled into this whole new place and life, its been difficult but its getting better!  I had to cut my hair last week, well I didn't HAVE to but I did.  Its a lot shorter haha...

French is still pretty hard and its really hard to talk to people. But I think I'm getting better, I don't know haha. I haven't had to speak in church yet but I did get up and share my testimony on fast Sunday. They said I did everything right but I cant tell if they were just being nice. There a a couple of people at the branch that speak English. Like Frère Joseph who is a sailor from the English Guyana but is living here and now is making shoes(sandals) for a living. We went to his house to teach a lesson and I was able to teach in English, in other words, I was able to do something!! hahaha On the other hand went visited Frère Vivet who is a less active member, who surprisingly is white ( it caught me off guard when he answered the door) He reminded me of the Cope's because he is very long winded with a lot of stories. We were there for 3 hours, and I didn't understand any of it... So that was no fun but the best was when we taught Françesca! She is a referral from Frère official who is dating her. We were teaching her about the Book of Mormon and I understood most everything she said and could talk to her and answer questions and stuff, it was great!! She asked if the story of the Book of Mormon was mentioned in the Bible and I was able to open up in the Bible to the verse where Jesus tell of the "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold." and explain it. It was super cool.

On to your questions!!

So how are things going with your companion?

Honestly, its a lot like The Best Two Years haha its almost funny how close it is.  Because Elder Maoni is such a great teacher, but I feel like he just can't wait to go home.   I also think hes a little hesitant to do stuff because of how little success we get here.  But we're doing alright!

Do you get to do anything fun on p-day?

 Last week we didn't do much but this week we went on a bike ride then to a cool spot out on the ocean, which is just across the road from the city basically.  I think we are going to a beach after this I don't know.

How are the stores?  Are they all French?

The stores are very American-like.  They have a big Carrefour which is basically Walmart, and some other stores like that, its pretty modern stuff.  Something funny is that I keep hearing people say "chinois" and keep wondering why everyone is talking about Chinese people, turns out that's what they call these little gas station type stores, which are in fact run exclusively by Chinese people, its the only place you'll ever find Chinese people. haha

Have you made any good food?  What do you eat?

 I have yet to eat anything not American because I cook for myself all the time. I'm becoming a good cook! My spaghetti is quite spectacular if I do say so myself

Have you been fed by member?  If so what do you eat?

nope...

Did you find any new people to teach this week?

We've been looking through the area book to find old investigators.  We got a hold of 2 on the phone and are going to see them this week.

If you don't have referrals and can't tract, what do you do all day?

 Try to find members, less actives, or investigators, we do tract if there is nothing else.

Do you spend time studying in the morning?  What's your daily schedule?

We study for most of the morning.  Personal, companionship, and language, we eat lunch then head out and try to find people to teach for most the rest of the day.

We saw you used your debit card.  What did you buy?

I got a side bag for 7€ and the rest I haven't used but they told me its easier to have the money in cash because the cards here are different.

I've read there's a lot of counterfeit things there.  Have you seen much?

I haven't noticed anything yet, but I'll keep an eye out, wouldn't be surprised if my bag is haha

I've seen several pictures with 3 toed sloths!  Have you seen any of those?

No sloths but a lot of lizards running across the road, a lot that just weren't fast enough to make it all the way... they are pretty fast though, especially the ones that get in the house... haha

So is it just the 4 of you in your district?  Who's the district leader and the zone leader?

Just 4 in the whole country.  Elder Maoni is district leader and Elder Santos is Zone leader

Did you get malaria pills when you got there?  How are the mosquitoes?

 I didn't get anything like that.  The mosquitoes were bad at first but have kinda stopped biting now so that's always good.

Hows the heat?  Are you getting used to it yet?

Its so hot here... I'm used to being sweaty all the time now but it gets really ho, haha about the same as Oaxaca but everyone has a hundred fans in there house so its not so bad when we are inside.

You said you've driven to other cities.  Where have you gone?

We are technically in Baduel which is a suburb directly out of the city we are manly in the city and its outskirts.  We stay right there most of the time but I can't think of the names of the other places.

Do most of the members speak French?  I've heard it's quite diverse.

 Everyone I've seen speaks French a few understand and speak English which is nice haha

Do you need to learn French Creole?  Do a lot o people speak that?

 I don't think I need to but odds are I will pick some up like the others have. It'll be useful.

That's all I can write!  I love you all so much!!  I forgot my SD card reader so I can't get any pictures this week sorry!!!!  I didn't know we were going to write emails at this time but it happened... Next week I'll send some I promise!!!

Avec amour,
Elder Call

Apparently Elder Fraley was kind enough to let Braden use his card reader, so we did get some pictures after all!

 Self hair cut...Oh dear!

 I looked this up on Google Translate, and the only words it would translate was

"vicious dog!"

First week in French Guiana!

Bonjour ma famille!

I'm going to answer your questions first to make sure I get them.  This keyboard is all messed up so I'm having a rough time writing.  I'm so sorry I forgot my card reader to put pictures on, but I'll see if I can figure something out! This week I have had more happen to me in the last 7 days then I ever have before!  I've been to about 6 countries in 4 days, taught a lesson (sat through a lesson in Spanish) and used my magic trick haha! And learned how to drive a stick shift, hopefully I get to all of it!!

Trinidad is weird... Immigration was crazy, they gave us money to bribe our way in just in case, they called it an "immigration tax" but they just randomly made some of us fill out a form and pay 65 dollars.  None of the French Elders had to pay it because we were leaving in two days. Most of the the English Elders had to pay but it was random... We went straight to this super nice bed and breakfast that night. In the morning we got picked up by the APs and taken to the mission home for orientation, most of which doesn't even apply to me because I'm on the French side haha, but it was good.  The next day at 2:30 Elder Lewis and I split because he is going to Guadeloupe and flying out later.  Elder Lever and Fraley left with me.  We hopped on a  two propeller plane and took off with HOPES that we got to where we were headed, because apparently they just do what they want.  Elder Lewis was told that his flight was famous for stopping in random places and sometimes not even making it to Guadeloupe, and the airlines just pays for a hotel for them... I'm not sure if he made it or not, you'll have to find out haha.  Our plane decided to stop in Grenada, then to Barbados.  We had to get off the plane, go through security, then back on the same plane, then we flew to Martinique.  That's where we left Elder Lever.  We spent an hour with the Jenkins, a senior couple that used to be in French Guiana, but were removed because of poor success. Then we went to the airport and waited ? hours before we got bumped from our flight.  We stayed the night with two Elders in Martinique, Sosa and Russel.  We joined them for a lesson and Elder Sosa taught it in Spanish, so I couldn't do anything haha.  There was this super crazy kid that kept distracting them so I used my magic trick to keep him busy so they could teach, it worked like a charm!!  We then flew here in the morning!  It's great here, but honestly, Martinique was beautiful... They say I most likely will go there sometime...

The reason it said on my flight plan that I was going to Martinique was to make it easier to get through Trinidad Immigration. Our zone will travel to Suriname for zone conference.  We get to take a canoe there, because there aren't any roads that cross the river!  French Guiana is an isolated country.  The president never comes here to visit us because it's so far out of the way and there are only 4 of us here, and like I said, they moved the senior couple out.

I'm in the capitol city of Cayenne.  My collège is named Elder Maoni but that's the best I could spell it in my last email.  There are only 4 missionaries in all of French Guiana.  There is just one branch in the whole country and it's in Cayenne.  We split it into east and west, I have the west. The city of Cayenne reminds me a lot of Oaxaca, except it's a bit nicer I think and all of the signs are in French.  It has a central park like Oaxaca did as well.

My apartment is a lot better than what Jordan had, and it's crazy hot, I'm always sweating. Members never really feed us so we cook all the time mostly.

We don't tract too often because the people hardly ever talk to us.  We are pretty reliant on referrals right now but we don't get much or any...  We do have some investigators but they are very reluctant to make appointments.  We did visit one family, the Sermons, they are investigators. Sis. Sermon is blind and stays on a hospital bed set up in their shack and they only speak Creole, so I'm kinda no help haha.  I can understand them but they have no clue what I am saying haha.

My address is:

Elder Call
Bat.E No.2 Res.Pont Maggi Rt. de Baduel
Cayenne 97300
French Guiana

Not sure how well mail works but there's one way to find out! haha

I don't have anymore time but I love all of you!
I answer more next week!!!
Elder Call

 Elders arriving in Trinidad

It's SOOO hot here!

 The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Trinidad

Leaving Trinidad

Big yellow M for Martinique

Very rainy in Martinique

 Center park in Cayenne, French Guiana

 My new apartment

(Jordan took a picture just like this of his first apartment!  You're awesome Braden!)

Elder Maoni